College of Veterinary Medicine

The Residency in Clinical Cardiology at the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine is designed for the veterinarian interested in advanced training in clinical cardiology. The program is three to four years in duration and integrated fully with the Graduate-Residency Program of the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences. The program provides the trainee with strong clinical training in the specialty of veterinary cardiology and a broad‑based graduate and research education leading to either the MS or PhD in Veterinary Clinical Sciences degree.

Important programmatic outcomes of the Residency in Clinical Cardiology include: 1) understanding of the mechanisms of cardiovascular (CV) disease; 2) expertise in the diagnosis and management of spontaneous cardiovascular (CV) diseases of small and large animals; 3) competency in performing and interpreting noninvasive and invasive diagnostic studies of the heart and circulation; 4) experience in managing multi-systemic internal medicine disorders involving cardiac patients; 5) development of clinical and didactic teaching skills; 6) development of clinical research skills applicable to study of spontaneous cardiovascular diseases; 7) contribution to the literature through co‑authorship of scientific papers; 8) certification in the specialty of Cardiology by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine; and 8) attainment of the MS or the PhD in Veterinary Clinical Science.

These goals are met by combining an outstanding clinical trainee with a highly-structured program that spans three to four years, depending on the degree sought.

Clinical Rotations

The residency combines clinical training and rounds, weekly seminars, self-study, and clinically-relevant research. The program is highly structured and organized to facilitate both clinical training and post-graduate education. Specific goals are the development of strong competencies in physical and imaging diagnosis, echocardiography, electrodiagnostics (ECG, Ambulatory ECGs, signal-averaged ECG), cardiac catheterization, angiocardiography, cardiac pacing, interventional cardiac procedures, with clinical competence in respiratory endoscopy. Cardiology residents also are expected to develop core competency in general internal medicine.

The resident spends approximately 120 weeks in scheduled clinics within the Veterinary Medical Center over a 3-year period. Clinical experience includes primary care (referral) cardiology, in-hospital case consultation in small and large animals, management of small animal patients with respiratory diseases, and treatment of cardiac patients with multi-systemic internal medicine disorders. The Cardiology Clinic caseload is approximately 90% cardiovascular disease based and about 10% respiratory disease based. Additional clinical experience in general internal medicine is gained at other times during the program. Clinical rotations are organized as series of 4 to 8-week rotations. Most of these rotations are on the Clinical Cardiology Service, but some time is spent in the internal medicine. Four cardiologists ? three ACVIM and one ECVIM certified ? contribute to the program through direct supervision, mentoring, consultation, classroom and seminar teaching, and research support. All clinical work is done in conjunction with clinical teaching of senior veterinary students and interns and is supervised at all times by faculty in cardiology. The hospital is one of the busiest in terms of academic practices, with a full complement of clinical specialists. Daily interaction with colleagues in internal medicine, oncology, neurology, radiology, anesthesiology, critical care and emergency medicine, and surgery is typical. Residents do have limited urgent and emergency care responsibilities; currently this involves backing up interns on emergency duty for cardiology patients. Backup responsibilities occur during both ?on-clinics? and ?off-clinic? periods, though the faculty or other residents assume back-up calls during designated board preparation time, when the resident is on vacation, or as required to assist the resident.

Educational Opportunities

A clinically relevant, formal education in mechanisms of disease, pathophysiology, pharmacology, and clinical sciences is integrated with the clinical training program. All hospital residents at Ohio State participate in this program which is described in more detail below. These classroom experiences are designed to prepare the resident for general and specialty board examinations, and to foster the highest quality practice in the academic or private sector. Clinical training is further supplemented with a series weekly of hospital seminars, journal clubs, and conferences in the College or at the University Medical Center. In addition to clinical training, there are other opportunities for clinical education. These include an extensive cardiovascular video, slide, and pathology library, a monthly cardiovascular pathology conference, and opportunity to attend internal medicine conferences. The resident receives some support to attend two scientific meetings (ACVIM) during the training program.

A portion of the training program is devoted to graduate education and clinical research. The Department has a well-established combined Residency-Graduate program, and all residents in the department (currently over 35) enroll in the graduate school at the start of the residency (with fees paid by the Department). The Veterinary Hospital is among the busiest of teaching hospitals, and the development of clinical expertise is prized and fostered. Additionally, as an academic institution, the Cardiology faculty place both teaching and clinical research as fundamental to the efforts of each member of the Cardiology Service, including cardiology residents in training.

Resident education is attained through clinical experience, rounds, self-study, review of relevant literature, use of the Veterinary and Medical School libraries, participation in weekly seminars, and completion of a graduate curriculum of courses in advanced veterinary internal medicine. Currently, cardiology residents can complete all of their needed coursework within the Veterinary College Campus, with the vast majority of classes delivered within a scheduled, 3-year course cycle. Classes are taught prior to routine clinical duties, and most are taught within the hospital building. There is a large course catalogue of classes in Veterinary Clinical Sciences focusing on the needs ofresidents in advanced clinical training. There are specific courses in advanced cardiology (cardiovascular physiology, electrocardiography, pharmacology, and cardiovascular medicine); respiratory medicine; nephrology/urology; neurology; gastroenterology; clinical oncology; clinical pharmacology; critical care medicine; and diagnostic imaging. These courses are taught mainly by clinical faculty of the Department. In addition, some of the clinical conferences in the department (for example, the weekly internal medicine clinical conference and specialty journal clubs) are available for graduate seminar credit. The department also offers two courses in research methods and data analyses that are especially relevant to residents with a future interest in clinical research.

Program Details

Interviews for Prospective Residents

We try to interview candidates who we believe we are likely to match based on academic record, internship/clinical experience, and recommendations. Considering the cost, time, effort, and difficulty in getting off work (for most interns), we do not want to have people visit OSU unnecessarily. Until we see the full applicant pool (Dec 7^th) it is very difficult for us to determine who we believe should interview for our single position. In the past we had full or partial applications to review "as they come in", but in this new system we have to wait (at least in our department) until Dec 7^th. For that reason, we have projected interview dates as follows:

• December 18th
• January 8th
• January 15th

We expect to contact prospective residents the first week in December after we have reviewed applications. In the interim, if you want us to have an electronic copy of your CV for early review, you can send it directly to Dr. Bonagura at bonagura [dot] 1 [at] osu [dot] edu - this may help us decide if an applicant is likely to be invited for an interview and might help you to plan for that time if you are interested in our program. Thanks for your consideration of Ohio State Cardiology.

Candidate requirements

Applicants must be graduates of a faculty-approved College or School of Veterinary Medicine (with academic standing in the top 50% of the class), have completed a one-year rotating internship or acceptable equivalent, and be eligible to obtain a veterinary license in the State of Ohio. Strong interests in high-quality patient care, clinical education of veterinary students, and clinical research are essential requirements for the position. The candidate must have good interpersonal skills and be capable of working cooperatively with faculty, students, house officers, and hospital/departmental staff. Professional comportment and appearance are expected. At least three references are required and a personal interview and tour of the facilities is strongly recommended prior to application. For those unable to visit, telephone interviews should be arranged with the Program Director and other members of the Cardiology faculty.

The Veterinary Teaching Hospital is located in Columbus Ohio, a large metropolitan area. There are ample living opportunities within the city or in a number of pleasant suburbs. Columbus offers social, sporting, and cultural opportunities typical of a large city.

International Candidates

Offer will be contingent upon obtaining an approved work authorization (visa) that will allow you to report to The Ohio State University Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences for the beginning of your internship/residency no later than July 15, 2005. TOEFL ? A minimum score requirement of 550 (213 computer based) is required.

Graduate School

You must meet admission requirements to The Ohio State University Graduate School without conditions. (3.0 GPA required).

For further information or inquiries please contact: Dr. John D. Bonagura, Program Director, (614) 292-3551 or by email at bonagura [dot] 1 [at] osu [dot] edu.

Teaching

Cardiology residents begin in the standard departmental three-year, Residency–Graduate program. However, the faculty strongly encourages application from those with a career interest in clinical academic medicine, and will give very strong consideration to applicants interested in the Residency – PhD program. The time available for research depends on the elected degree, but for residents pursuing the Residency-PhD program, the total training period is extended by 13-months beyond the Residency-MS program. This additional time is mainly for research. At the onset of the program, a course of graduate and didactic study will be developed in conjunction with the clinical and graduate research advisors and the interests of the resident. Experiences are planned to foster a strong knowledge cardiology and to assure clinical competency in a number of cardiologic techniques.

The research interests of the faculty are diverse but are focused mainly on clinical research of spontaneous cardiovascular diseases of animals. There are extensive laboratory facilities including a dedicated research echocardiograph, in house Holter ECG system, and facilities for cardiac catheterization. There is also sufficient technical support available to assist the trainee in clinical and laboratory studies. Graduate students are expected to complete their coursework in a diligent manner, and to conduct and complete their research on a scheduled basis. Residents will submit scientific manuscripts in accordance with their program. For students pursuing the PhD, the final compilation of papers (according to graduate school guidelines) will satisfy the requirements for the PhD dissertation, while creating a record of publications for the trainee.

Faculty members directly involved in support of the program include four board-certified cardiologists. Three of these, Dr. JD Bonagura, Dr. B. Scansen, and Dr. K Schober supervise clinical training while Dr. RL Hamlin supports cardiovascular education and research. There are other faculty members on site with specialties in internal medicine/gastroenterology/nephrology (5), neurology (2), oncology (2), ophthalmology (3), radiology/ultrasound/ nuclear medicine (4), general and orthopedic surgery (6), anesthesiology (4), emergency and critical care medicine (2), and theriogenology (1). Clinical pathologists and residents (3) support the hospital program. Board-certified pathologists and microbiologists also support clinical efforts. The resident and cardiology faculty member on service work side-by-side as part of a service (with students and interns). The resident receives a structured performance evaluation once or twice each year. When the resident is on the cardiology clinical service there is constant faculty supervision of clinical activities that are rotated among the three clinical cardiologists with faculty backup schedule for off-hours and holiday emergencies/procedures.